Tom Riordan, Leeds City Council chief executive, said: “It’s great that we got such a fantastic set of athletes and it’s brilliant so many people, young and old turned, out turned out to celebrate that.

PIC: Simon Hulme

Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “The people of Yorkshire and Leeds turned out in massive numbers for another fantastic sporting event.

“It shows what can be achieved with collaborations across Yorkshire.

Jonny Brownlee said: “It has been very special. It makes you proud to be from Yorkshire. When you are in the world of sport, you’re really sheltered from it. I wanted to soak it all up [during the parade].

Alistair Brownlee said: It’s fantastic to be back in Leeds and to see the support at the parade. We race all around the world, so to see all the people out on the streets in Leeds is just fantastic.

I didn’t expect so many people, I didn’t realise how big the whole event would be.

We had this after London in 2012, but this has been bigger still.

PIC: Simon Hulme

He said he felt emotional while touring the city centre on the bus.

It has been an emotional roller coaster of a year and these last few months, and in the build up to the Olympics, so it’s really nice to be home.

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